Best Friend
by Authorgirl12
Summary: When she needs me, I will be there... NOONA MONTH ONESHOT.


One eye flicked open as the sound of buzzing jolted me from my slumber. After a moment of tired confusion, I realized that the strange buzzing was my phone. I groggily lifted my head from my pillow and squinted at my alarm clock.

1:13 A.M.

Who on earth could've possibly been calling at that ungodly hour?

I half expected it to be my roommate, Gil, calling about a spider in the bathroom or something stupid like that, but in the darkness I could hear the quiet hum of his snoring on the other side of the small apartment. So, whoever it was, it must've been important.

I untangled myself from the blankets and felt around on my nightstand for my phone. Grasping it in my hand, I squinted at the illuminated screen and saw the last name that I expected to see:

Oona.

Suddenly extremely worried, I quickly answered the call, sitting up in bed.

She was never up this late, more or less calling people. I automatically knew that something was wrong.

"Hello?" I asked quietly, not wanting to wake Gil.

"N-Nonny?" I could hear her voice on the other end, shaky and small. She struggled to speak through her sobs.

"Oona, what's wrong?" I asked calmly. I didn't want to freak her out any more than she already was.

"It's Richard." She sobbed, and began stuttering as if she couldn't quite get her brain to figure out the right words to say, "He...he... I need you."

Just with those three simple words, I was up. That's all it took for me to know what I had to do.

"Okay, just sit tight, Oona. I'll be there in five minutes."

I jumped out of bed and ran as quietly as I could to my dresser. I pulled out a random shirt and jeans and changed quicker than I ever had in my life.

Oona needed me, and I wasn't going to make her wait a second longer than she had to.

Less than a minute later, I was out the door.

You see, Oona was my best friend in the entire world. It had been that way most of our lives. Boyfriends had come and gone for her, and I had always been there right by her side anytime she needed help with a nasty breakup. Well, let me reword that. In the course of her lifetime, she'd had three boyfriends, all of them ending horribly. The poor girl was nearly horrified of relationships by this point, but was always afraid to turn a guy down whenever he asked her out.

This is where this Richard guy comes into play. Richard is her fourth boyfriend. Considering the fact that she's 19, only four guys isn't actually that bad. Me on the other hand... I had always been as single as a Pringle. I wanted to save my love for... someone special.

Anyway, Richard didn't seem like a bad guy. He was three years older than Oona, which was a downside, but he seemed fairly nice. But of course, I've never bought that act. He was in culinary school with Oona, and they had several classes together. According to her, he'd always showed some sort of attraction to her. But after meeting him for the first time with one of those, 'hey, boyfriend, this is my best friend that's a guy who so obviously has feelings for me, please don't hate him' kind of awkward meetings, I knew that he was one of THOSE types of guys. One who only dates girls for one reason.

So, when Oona called me, I only assumed that her and Richard were done for. Another relationship had come and gone, and she needed to be comforted. I would stop at the end of the world to be there at her side, no matter how little the problem was.

But boy, was I wrong.

Seven minutes after leaving my apartment, I pulled up in the parking lot of her complex. Hopping out of the car, I ran up to the front door and flung it open. I flew up the stairs to the fourth floor where Oona and Richard's apartment was. I dug my keys out and grasped one with '18D' engraved in the side.

Of course I had keys to her apartment.

No Richard didn't know.

Of course we didn't plan on telling him.

I stuck the key in the door and unlocked it as quickly as possible, flinging it open. I stepped inside and immediately stopped in my tracks.

"Holy..."

The place was a mess. The dining room table sat on its side in the middle of the living room, the couch was flipped over, the TV laid smashed into pieces on the carpet, there was a hole in the drywall, and there was.. was that mashed potatoes? Well, whatever it was, it was splattered all over the ceiling. It was horrible.

There was no way this was just a breakup.

"Nonny?" A small voice spoke from somewhere on the other side of the room.

"Oona?!" I responded, my eyes racing around the room for her.

"Over here." She responded, her voice hiccuping from her sobs.

I went to my right and flipped an already overturned arm chair. Curled up in the corner, there she was.

I quickly sat on the floor beside her and helped her sit up. Her left eye was purple and swollen, and her lip was bleeding. She wore that pink flowery sun dress that she loved so much, but it was ripped at the neckline, showing a portion of her bra, but I wasn't tempted to look. I respected her too much. Both of her arms also had multiple bruises.

"Oona.. what on earth happened?"

She wiped her nose with her hand and hiccuped, "Richard... he came home.. he'd been drinking... I had made him a special dinner for our anniversary, but.. but.."

She gestured helplessly at the disaster of a room around us, "But he was angry..."

She tried to finish, but her sobs broke in, more tears streaming down her bruised cheeks. But she didn't need to finish; I understood perfectly what had happened.

I took her in my arms, and she buried her face in my chest. She sobbed, and sobbed, and sobbed, for who knows how long, and I just held her. I stroked her hair and gently rubbed her back, but I didn't say a word, because I knew she wasn't going to have it. I didn't bother telling her that it was going to be okay. I knew that it would be okay, but in her mind, it wasn't. That was the last thing that she wanted to hear, and I knew it.

Telling her that it would be okay would only make it worse.

After what felt like forever, she finally stopped sobbing for a moment and sniffled, "Nonny?"

"Yes?" I answered, still holding her in my arms.

"Your shirt is inside out."

I quickly glanced down, only to see that she was right.

I laughed nervously and shrugged, "I was in a hurry to get here."

She lifted her head from my chest and smiled sweetly, "You're too good to me.."

"Hey." I said gently, taking her chin in my hand and making her look at me, "I only give you what you deserve. And if you ask me, you deserve way more than what I can give you."

I sighed and looked into her beautiful dark eyes, "And you definitely didn't deserve this."

She looked away sadly and mindlessly fiddled with the hem of my shirt. It didn't mean anything; she did it all the time matter of fact. It had turned into a subconscious habit or something for her or something when we were talking. I didn't mind at all.

She said nothing as she stared at the mascara stain that her tears had left on my shirt. Her own face was smeared with the stuff, running in streaks down her cheeks.

"C'mon." I told her, taking her hand and helping her to her feet, "Let's get that junk off your face."

I led her to the bathroom, flicking on the light and closing the toilet lid. I sat her down, and went to the medicine cabinet where I knew she kept her makeup wipes.

"You don't need to do this." She sniffled, gently rubbing a bruise on her knee.

I closed the medicine cabinet and knelt in front of her, pulling a wipe from the package, "No, I don't need to. But I care way too much about you to just sit here and watch you be in pain."

I gently held her face with my left hand as I wiped her cheek with my right, the smeared mascara coming off with the wipe. I continued to clean her left cheek as she once again fiddled with the hem of my shirt.

I faltered when she suddenly placed her hand on my face.

She traced my cheek bone with her thumb, "Have I ever told you how much I love your freckles?"

Well, that was kinda random, but I guess when your face is that close to someone else's, you pay attention to little stuff like that.

I smiled weakly, "Yes. You tell me all the time."

She had always been fond of my freckles.

"I love how when you spend a lot of time in the sun, more and more appear. Almost like magic." Her voice was hoarse from sobbing, but she laughed quietly, "I love that..."

I looked into her eyes once again, my hand holding the wipe just centimeters from her face. I had cleaned nearly all of the mascara from the left side of her face, making the bruised skin under her eye more visible than before. A new flame of anger suddenly flared within me.

How could someone do something like this to my Oona? Why would anyone want to inflict pain on someone as sweet and innocent as her? Nobody deserved this.

My baby didn't deserve this.

"If that Richard ever shows his face around here again, I swear-"

"Nonny, don't." She interrupted, grasping my hand and pulling moving it away from her face, "This isn't for you to worry about. Richard is my problem, and I need to deal with him myself. I don't want you getting mixed up in this."

I shook my head, "I know that I'm not your boyfriend, but I am your best friend, and that means that it's my job to make sure that you're safe, no matter what. And obviously, as long as he's around, you're not safe."

I could see more tears forming in her eyes as she stared at me. She seemed oddly calm.

I realized that my hand was still cradling her cheek, and hers still gently caressing my cheekbone. Our other hands still held each other in her lap.

"I guess he's going to have to move out then." She spoke so quietly, her voice was barely audible.

That moment.

We were so close I could practically feel her heart beating.

I could hear her soft breathing.

I could see every emotion in her eyes.

It was me.

It was her.

It was the stars.

It was the moon.

It was a big, empty, trashed apartment.

It was us.

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from the living room.

"WOMAN. WHERE ARE YOU AT?"

She didn't take her eyes off of me. She grasped my hand tighter as a single tear rolled down her cheek, "Do what you need to do."

And so I did. Because even though I wasn't her boyfriend...

She was still my stars.

She was still my moon.

She was still my everything.

She was my best friend.


End file.
